Toward understanding how new teachers construct teacher knowledge

This study examined the sense making practices of three beginning teachers. This study sought to understand how beginning teachers constructed teaching knowledge and how their collective knowledge of teaching was applied to their teaching practices. The fundamental nature of teacher knowledge construction was recognized through the careful study of the day-to-day practices of theses teachers. The naturalistic and phenomenological features of this inquiry permitted the investigation of the beginning teachers as they engaged in their teaching practices in the setting of their first classrooms. Through observation and direct interaction with the new teachers, understandings of their perceptions of teacher knowledge unfold naturally without manipulation or control measures. This discovery-oriented approach minimized the treatment of the study and placed no prior restraints or predictions on this investigation. Multiple data points were carefully examined and triangulated. Both within and cross-case analyses revealed the fashion in which knowledge is constructed contextually and synergistically. The teachers of this study seemed to develop teaching knowledge in four categories identified as: Knowledge from Theoretical Contexts, Knowledge from Personal and Autobiographical, Knowledge from Classroom Practice and Knowledge from Institutional Contexts. It appeared that the teachers of this study merged knowledge from these four contextual categories into a superset of knowing identified as Reconstructed Self Transforming Knowledge. This study has strong implications for educational theory and teacher education and mentorship in that it suggests that new teachers need more than knowledge of their theory and practice. Instead, through this study, I advocate the need for a well-structured new teacher training program that guides and supports beginning teacher knowledge construction across all four teacher knowledge contexts. Particular attention needs to be given to understanding the personal and autobiographical experiences that seemingly shape beginning teacher perceptions. Authentic and sustained mentorship experiences must be provided for the beginning teacher so that the formation and application of Reconstructed Self Transforming Knowledge is modeled for the beginning teacher. New teachers must have significant opportunities to develop their abilities to form Reconstructed Self Transforming Knowledge in their teaching preparation programs